Fayette County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

Fayette County and Mercer County are counties in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fayette County has the higher population (126,967 vs 109,852 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($60,614 vs $56,093 in Fayette County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($153,600 vs $126,900 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Mercer County
Population	126,967	109,852
Median age	45.4 yrs	45.2 yrs
Median household income	$56,093	$60,614
Median home value	$126,900	$153,600
Median gross rent	$771	$808
Housing units	62,060	50,884
Homeownership rate	72.5%	72.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.9%	25.1%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Mercer County
Population	131,302 → 126,967 (-3.3%)	111,518 → 109,852 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$47,364 → $56,093 (+18.4%)	$50,696 → $60,614 (+19.6%)
Median home value	$101,500 → $126,900 (+25.0%)	$121,100 → $153,600 (+26.8%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $771 (+14.2%)	$689 → $808 (+17.3%)

Fayette County

Population

131,302126,967

Median household income

$47,364$56,093

Median home value

$101,500$126,900

Median gross rent

$675$771

Mercer County

Population

111,518109,852

Median household income

$50,696$60,614

Median home value

$121,100$153,600

Median gross rent

$689$808

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Mercer County
Under 5	4.9%	4.8%
5 to 17	14.4%	14.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	9.3%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.6%
35 to 44	11.2%	10.8%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.4%
55 to 64	15.0%	15.1%
65 to 74	13.2%	12.9%
75 and over	9.0%	9.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.6%	88.6%
Black or African American	4.0%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	10.0%	8.7%
High school graduate	47.5%	40.5%
Some college or associate's	23.5%	25.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.3%	16.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Mercer County
Drove alone	81.0%	80.8%
Carpooled	7.6%	6.9%
Public transit	1.3%	0.2%
Walked	1.7%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.6%	7.8%
Other means	1.7%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	73.6%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	4.5%
20 or more units	2.7%	4.0%
Mobile home & other	10.5%	7.5%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	17.4%	12.8%
Average household size	2.23	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	27	22
Median year structure built	1958	1963